Let The Holy Spirit Transform You!

Homily 05 05 2013
Sixth Sunday of Easter C

View the Readings for this day

Today's readings show us the effects of the abiding presence of God in His Church and of His indwelling in each one of us.

Medical miracles seem to take place every single day. We have come to take so many things for granted in the realm of medicine, that it is hard for us to conceive of a time when much of what is accomplished today simply did not happen.

The great panoply of antibiotics used to cure numerous illnesses is less than a century old. It was not until the early 30's of the last century that Bayer brought the first commercially produced antibacterial to market.

The United Nations is making a final push to eliminate polio from the last few places in which the wild strain still exists, parts of northern Nigeria and of Pakistan. The complete eradication of this once dread disease is on the horizon, less than seven decades since Dr. Jonas Salk first began testing his vaccine.

Removal of the gall bladder used to be a major surgery that required a significant stay in the hospital. Now, with new laparoscopic techniques, many patients return home the same day.

Stents are inserted into coronary arteries through a catheter running up to the heart from the groin.

Hip and knee replacements take place by the hundreds every single day.

Kidney transplants are almost routine, as long as there are donors with the right match.

These kinds of advances have become so common-place that we don't even think of them as major developments anymore. Instead, they are just the routine practice of medicine.

But a few decades ago, these techniques were just as experimental as the announcement that was made on Tuesday at Children's Hospital of Illinois.

On April 9, doctors there implanted a bioengineered windpipe into a 2 1/2-year-old girl who was born without one. The implanted organ used plastic fibers and the child's own stem cells to incubate the organ.

In the Gospel this Sunday, Jesus tells his disciples that he will send the Holy Spirit to be the Advocate of the disciples. It is that same Spirit that guided the decision of the apostles in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

The Holy Spirit is so necessary to the life of the church. We cannot live without the Spirit.

In a recent talk, Pope Francis said: "The Holy Spirit truly transforms us. With our cooperation, he also wants to transform the world we live in."

The Spirit has been so much a part of the church that it almost seems routine, just like the practice of medicine that takes place each day in hospitals and clinics.

But just as those medical practices are nothing short of miraculous, the Spirit in the church is miraculous as well.

The Spirit stirs in our midst calling us to live faith, to be disciples.

We see the Spirit at work in the daily lives of Christians who reach out to the poor and the stranger...who reach out beyond the Parish and to find a relationship with the Archdiocese.

We see the Spirit working in the love of couples who share their life together with the children they bring into the world.

All of these things may seem routine because they happen every day. But they are nothing short of miraculous-because the Spirit is at work as Advocate and Guide breathing life into the community of faith!

jjl

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